Parshva was the son of King Ashvasen of Varanasi and Queen Vaamadevi. From boyhood he was thoughtful, kind, and unwilling to hurt the smallest creature. One day, as he walked through the city, he saw an ascetic named Kamath performing the "Panch-agni" — a penance of standing surrounded by five fires. The young prince watched the burning wood and his eyes filled with a strange grief. He stepped forward and asked the ascetic to stop. "There is a snake inside that log," he said quietly. Kamath laughed in scorn — a prince teaching a tapasvi? He refused to stop. Parshva instructed his servants to gently split open one of the burning logs. Inside lay a great cobra, half-charred, gasping for breath. Parshva sat down beside the dying serpent and softly recited the Navkar Mantra in its ear. The cobra heard the syllables and died in peace. In its next birth it became Dharanendra, the lord of the nagas. Years later, Parshva renounced his kingdom and became a monk. As he stood deep in meditation in a forest, an angry being named Meghmali — Kamath reborn — sent a storm to break his samadhi. Rain poured for days. The river rose around his ankles, then his knees, then his neck. At that moment Dharanendra appeared from below the water, lifted the meditating monk upon his coils, and spread his thousand-headed hood like a roof above his head. The storm beat against the hood; the saint did not stir. When Meghmali finally exhausted himself, he saw Parshva still standing, perfectly still, perfectly forgiving. He fell at his feet. Parshva said nothing harsh. He simply continued his meditation, attained Kevalgyan, and taught the four-fold restraint that would later be expanded by Bhagwan Mahavir into the five mahavratas.